Chrome getting major releases every 2 weeks as Google races to outpace attackers
The updates are coming thick and fast.
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- Google is moving Chrome’s major releases from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks.
- The new schedule applies to Chrome on desktop, Android, and iOS, starting with Chrome 153.
- Google says smaller, more frequent releases should make updates easier to test and fix.
- Weekly security updates and the 8-week Extended Stable schedule will continue separately.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Google is doubling the pace of Chrome’s major releases, moving the browser from a 4-week to a 2-week release cycle.
The first stable release under the new schedule, Chrome 153, arrived on September 8th. From here on, Google will ship a new major Chrome release every 2 weeks across desktop, Android, and iOS.
Google says the move will give users and developers faster access to new features, performance improvements, and fixes. However, each release will have a smaller scope, which Google says should make updates easier to test and any problems easier to track down.
“While releases will be more frequent, their smaller scope minimizes disruption and simplifies post-release debugging,” Google said in its developer blog post.
The company has been releasing a new Chrome milestone every 4 weeks since 2021. It also introduced weekly security updates in 2023 to reduce the time between fixing a vulnerability and getting the patch to users.
Those security updates remain separate from the new major-release schedule. Google is now effectively running a faster release cycle on top of an already faster security patch process.
The change will not affect Chrome's Dev or Canary channels. Google's Extended Stable channel, which targets enterprises and other organizations that need more time to manage browser updates, will also keep its existing 8-week schedule.
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A faster browser for a fast-moving threat landscape
The release change comes as Chrome continues to face a steady stream of security vulnerabilities, including flaws that attackers exploit before users can install a fix.
Just last week, Google released a Chrome update addressing 12 vulnerabilities, including a high-severity type confusion flaw in the V8 JavaScript engine that was being exploited in the wild. This was the 6th Chrome zero-day Google had patched in 2026.
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Earlier this year, Google also pushed an emergency Chrome update after confirming that attackers were exploiting CVE-2026-2441, a high-severity use-after-free vulnerability in Chrome's CSS component.
Another sophisticated attack came to light in March last year when threat actors exploited CVE-2025-2783, a Chrome Mojo vulnerability against Russian organizations to bypass Chrome's sandbox protections.
As the most popular web browser, Chrome is an enormous target, and these incidents help explain why the timing of Chrome's faster release schedule matters. A major release every 2 weeks will not replace Google's weekly security updates, but it means the browser can deliver broader fixes and improvements to users more quickly.
